Check in was quick and I headed towards the gates. Because the flight was later than was printed on my ticket by a whole hour I had even more time to kill. I found a café and stopped for a nibble and to read ma book. Ordering was an exact precision skill as I had only 5 euros 50 left, and I didn’t want the embarrassment of over ordering and not having the cash to pay for it.

While I was getting ready to vacate the room I got a text from Flavio (Remember him? He had the crusty lips) asking what time I was leaving. I texted back that I was going to the airport at 3pm. He wanted to meet before then so I agreed to meet him at the Rossio Metro to kill time before my 5.50 flight. Maaaaaaaaan, what a mistake! I don’t blame anybody but myself. He slightly got on my nerves the first time, so why did I even go and meet him again?

We had a good 5 hour sleep and decided that since it was our last night we should try and go out. But to just where on a Monday night we had no idea! I called Helder (remember him? Say Samthing LOL) since he is club head to find out where we could go. I hadn’t spoken to him since the night of the “Say Samthing” incident, but when you are battling against language barriers, there is no room for awkwardness.

Looking at the weather forecast online the night before leaving for Lisbon, it had been deduced that Monday was going to be the hottest day on our trip at a scorching 23 Degrees Celsius (Oooooooh boiling… Not!) So we made plans to go to the beach this day. We put on our summer clothes and headed off to the place where we had originally intended to go the day before; the beach at Santo Amaro.

Today we went to meet Pina, one of the guys that we met on the way to the boat trip at Rossio Metro. We were going to the beach at Santo Amaro. We took the metro from the Rossio to Cais de Sodre. When we got to Cais de Sodre, our hanging around taking random pictures caused us to arrive on the platform as the train was about to leave, so in our mad rush we got on the train, but oooops we forgot to buy a ticket! We were a few minutes into the journey when Pina called and told us to stay on the train all the way to Cascais because it was raining and apparently there would be more things to do in the rain in Cascais.

After the boat cruise we met a guy called Flavio randomly and he asked if we wanted to “go for a beer,” We told him we’d meet him in the same spot in an hour as Ruth was trying to get her phone unlocked. We met him and ended up in a bar in Bairro Alto called Favela Chique. It was our first time in Bairro Alto and we loved it! Bairro Alto is a picturesque working class quarter dating from the 16th century that has traditionally been the city’s bohemian haunt of artists and writers.

Today we went on a 2 hour boat cruise on the River Tagus around Lisbon, Portugal, boarding at Commercio Square. On the way there we met some guys by Rossion Metro who offered to take some pictures for us as we were taking them of each other. One was called Pina and the other ones name I don’t think I ever knew. We exchanged numbers and arranged to go out with them that evening. We rushed to board the boat and just made it before they were going to leave.

In the evening I called my MySpace buddy Helder. Well I should say acquaintance because I only started talking to him the week before and communication was difficult cos my Portuguese isn’t all that. However he seemed to know a lot of clubs in Lisbon and offered to take us to a club in Santo Amaro called ConVento.

After trekking the streets we finally found a place that had room for four nights, on Rua Dos Bacalhoeiros. At 35 Euro a night it was even cheaper than the hostel, clean and in a great location above a restaurant. It was a guest house run by two old ladies. We were estatic and paid the deposit immediately.

We arrived at the hostel, and were told that they were fully booked (and with a waiting list… imagine that?), so although I could stay for the two nights (as was booked), Ruth could not. I could, however cancel the second night and then we could go find somewhere else for the four nights. We were absolutely gutted when they told us this because the hostel was really nice. This must be the nicest they come in “hostel world.”